Show Up And Write!

You ever have days when you don’t know what to write? I’m in one of those places right now. I’ve spent the last hour and a half reviewing blogs of some of my favorite writers and reading through my latest Writer’s Digest, but I am still struggling for inspiration.

I like to write blogs that help others avoid the mistakes that I make. You would think I would have an endless supply of topics, since I’ve made about every mistake imaginable. I’m sitting here staring at the screen and my mind is a blank canvas.

I suppose that could be a good thing at times, but today is not one of those times 🙂 What do you do when you don’t know what to write?

The most common response I get, is just start writing. The words may come slow at first, but they will catch up with you.

I’m testing that theory this morning. So far so good. I know I’m rambling a little, and I hope you will forgive me, but I am also doing a pretty good job of putting into words what is going on in my thought process right now.

This issue not only effects my blog, but like you, disrupts my writing as well. What do you do when you are creating a masterpiece and run into a wall? You can’t just stop!

Well I guess you could, but that wouldn’t be very productive, and your novel would be suspended on life support, waiting to be revived.

You have to push through, just as I am doing this morning. Keep writing. The words will come and the story will flow.

I would love to hear from you. How do you motivate yourself when you don’t know what to write?

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5 thoughts on “Show Up And Write!”

A great question to ponder upon. For me it depends on what I’m writing. If it is a short story that I’m struggling with I’ll often commit to ten minutes at the desk. Sometimes the act of just sitting or writing a single sentence is enough to get me going. For a longer work (say, a section of a novel), if I’m really stuck I might play with another viewpoint or approach the situation from a different character’s perspective. It is sometimes enough to overcome the initial feeling of having nothing to write. There is merit at times, though, in stepping away and going for a walk or doing something completely unrelated – I often come back from walking my dog in particular with lots of ideas or a fresh viewpoint.

Thanks for stopping by. I agree, it depends. I do sometimes take a walk, or sit on the front porch and ponder. Unfortunately I didn’t have that luxury when I wrote this post. I write Tues and Thurs mornings-no excuse, so I had to push through to get something on the page 🙂

Hi Jan,
I’m sure the experts would disagree with me, however, I have another opinion. If you hit the wall and nothing comes to you within a reasonable period, then walk away. You might need a break for minutes, hours or even days. Where is it written you must push yourself just to write anything.

I agree that the more you write, the better you become at expressing yourself, etc. I agree that sometimes, you should just write whatever your are feeling and then go back to edit your writing.

So for me, there is a difference between forcing yourself to write and writing anything you are feeling. The former is writing for writing sake, while the latter is writing using your emotions for inspirations.